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26. THE PRIORY OF LEGBOURNE

The priory of Legbourne was founded by
Robert FitzGilbert (fn. 1) of Tathwell somewhere
about 1150; it seems to have been built for the
reception of some Cistercian nuns already formed
into a convent at Carledale, (fn. 2) elsewhere called
the ' nuns of Keddington ' (fn. 3) or of Hallington. (fn. 4)
Whether these earlier nuns had separate foundations, or whether one convent is spoken of
under different names, it is difficult now to decide; but at any rate the nuns of Legbourne
inherited the possessions of all their predecessors.

The nuns had some difficulty during the early
part of the thirteenth century in securing their
appropriate churches. Alice Constable, daughter
of the founder, impleaded the prioress in 1204
and claimed the advowson of Saltfleetby church,
which she said was made part of her marriage
portion before the priory was built. Her nephew
Robert, however, when called to warrant, supported the prioress's claim. (fn. 5) Alice afterwards
impleaded Robert and induced him to say that
her charter was made out before the church was
given to the nuns; his evidence, however, cannot have been very valuable, as the prior of
Legbourne summoned him just after to prove
the contrary. (fn. 6) For the time being the dispute
was settled in favour of Alice, and Robert
granted the prior certain lands in exchange for a
moiety of the church, (fn. 7) but it afterwards returned
to the nuns. There were other suits in 1205
and 1226 in connexion with the churches of
Hallington and Farlesthorpe. (fn. 8)

Having an income of less than £200 a year,
this priory was dissolved before Michaelmas,
1536; the prioress received a pension of £7 a
year, and the nine nuns who remained 20s.
each to buy secular apparel. (fn. 9) The house
was not, however, entirely dismantled at the
time of the outbreak of the Lincoln rebellion; the king's commissioners, Millicent and
Bellow, were still in the priory and busy '
at their work, when they were dragged out
of it by the excited mob. (fn. 10) During the
course of the rising a gentleman of Lincoln
wrote to Cromwell and informed him that the
insurgents had ' made a nun' in the ' abbey of
Legbourne.' It is just possible that they may
have made an attempt to restore the ejected
religious to this house, as we know the Pilgrims
of Grace did in some cases in Yorkshire; but
the statement may be based on a mere rumour. (fn. 11)

The priory (fn. 12) was visited probably all through
its history by the bishops of Lincoln, but there
is no report preserved earlier than that of
Bishop Alnwick in 1440. (fn. 13) At this time certain
irregularities required correction, but the bishop
found most fault with the prioress. She had
indeed greatly reduced the debts of the house—
they had amounted at her election to £63 and
now stood at £14—but she had been too fond of
entertaining her own relations, and had partly
supported them from the revenues of the monastery. She had once admitted a chaplain, not
duly licensed, to preach in the conventual
church; and when notice of the visitation came
she had called the sisters into chapter and
counselled them not to report anything that was
amiss. There does not seem to have been anything very much amiss except her own conduct.
The commemorations of St. Benedict and
St. Bernard were not regularly made at mattins,
mass, and vespers; a secular boarder slept in the
dormitory and disturbed the nuns by the noise
she made, and certain servants were also allowed
there. The nuns did not wear scapularies at
their work as the rule enjoined. There were
also one or two complaints, as usual, of a merely
personal character. (fn. 14)

The injunctions which followed were much
the same as those delivered to other nunneries at
this time. The omitted memorials must be
said; the dormitory must be cleared of seculars;
scapularies must be worn at work; the prioress
must not support her own kinsfolk, and must
rule with impartiality. Her punishment, however, for admitting an unlicensed chaplain and
for desiring to conceal faults at the visitation
was a more serious matter, and was reserved to
the bishop. (fn. 15)

Bishop Atwater in 1519 found nothing to
correct, except that the infirmary was out of
repair. It was stated at the same time that the
nuns often worked at haymaking, but only in
the presence of the prioress. (fn. 16)

When in 1536 the news came to Legbourne
of the passing of the Act of Suppression, it
caused great distress and consternation to the
nuns. As Cromwell himself happened to be
patron of their house at this time, they thought
perhaps he might be able to use his influence on
their behalf.

' Please yt your goodnes,' wrote the prioress to
him, ' to understonde that whereas almyghty God
hath indued you with just title of Founder . . . to
the great comfort of me and all my systers, we doo
and shall alweyes submit cure selfes to youre most
rightuouse commaundement and ordre, oonly puttyng
oure comfort in your goodnesse. And whereas we
doo here that a grete nombre of abbyes shalbe
punysshid, subprest and put downe, bicause of their
myslyvyng, and that all abbyes and pryoryes under
the value of ccli be at oure moste noble prynces pleasure to subpresse and put downe, yet if it may pleas
your goodness we trust in God ye shall here no
complayntes agaynst us nother in oure lyvyng nor
hospitalitie kepyng.'

She promises him, if he will be a suitor for his
own poor priory, 'you shalbe a more higher
Founder to us than he that first foundid our
howse. (fn. 17) It was an unhappy thing for the poor
ladies of Legbourne that they had ' noon othir
comfort nor refuge but oonlyunto' Cromwell's
goodness, for that was likely to help them little.
Their petition was unheeded, and their house
dissolved.

The original endowment of the priory consisted of certain lands of Robert Fitz Gilbert's
fee in Tathwell, Legbourne, Hallington, with
mills, crofts, &c., and the churches of Farlesthorpe, St. Peter Saltfleetby, Raithby (Robert the
prior and the convent of Legbourne quit-claimed
all right to the advowson of Raithby church to
Robert son of William de Lekeburn in 1205 (fn. 18) ),
Hallington, Somercotes, Conisholme, and half that
of Legbourne. (fn. 19) In 1291 the nuns had temporalities
valued at £20 19s. 11¾. (fn. 20) In 1395 the value
of the priory was reckoned at about 60 marks. (fn. 21)
In 1428 the prioress held a knight's fee in
Legbourne and elsewhere jointly with the abbot
of Louth Park. (fn. 22) In 1534 the value of the
revenues was given as £38 8s. 4d. clear. (fn. 23) The
Ministers' Accounts give a total of £73 17s. 9¼d.,
including the profits of the rectories of Hallington, North Somercotes, Farlesthorpe, with half
those of Saltfleetby and Legbourne. (fn. 24)

Footnotes

1. It is uncertain whether this Robert was brother
of Ralf FitzGilbert, founder of Markby; but it seems
fairly clear that neither was connected in any way
with Baldwin FitzGilbert, the founder of Bourne.

12. There was a prior here as well as a prioress at the
end of the thirteenth century. Boyd and Massingberd, Abstracts of Final Concords, i, 61, 69; and Abbrev.
Plac. (Rec. Com.), 52. Later, the Lincoln Registers
record the appointment of several masters from 1294
to 1343, and in 1366 the same official apparently is
called ' yconomus' of Legbourne: Linc. Epis. Reg.
Memo. Bokyngham, 33d.

14. One nun said she had not been allowed to visit
her aged parents when they were dying.

15. It was mentioned in the course of the visitation
that the nuns here were allowed, as in most nunneries
of the time, a loaf daily and a pottle of beer, with a
portion of flesh, replaced in Advent and Lent by two
herrings. Sometimes in summer they had a little
butter; two stone of cheese and one pig were allowed
to each lady annually.

21.
Cal. of Pap. Letters, iv, 521. In this year a
moiety of the church of Legbourne was appropriated
to the prioress and convent, on the ground of heavy
losses through pestilence and dearth of labourers.